Facebook Now Banning ‘Misinformation’ Pertaining to COVID-19 Vaccine

Social media platforms have been extremely busy as of late, hope to curb the spread of “misinformation” on a number of subjects; most notably, the US presidential election of 2020.

Twitter and Facebook have both gone to great lengths to flag and label any and all missives that contradict the Associated Press’ calling of the race for Joe Biden.  This has been particularly noticeable on Twitter, where a vast number of tweets made by President Trump have been given the unsightly demerit.

Now, as the American public’s willingness to take a COVID-19 vaccine hovers around the 60% mark, Facebook is hoping to throttle any “misinformation” they see pertaining to the medical measure.

NBC News reports that tech giant Facebook announced this week that it plans to remove false claims about coronavirus vaccines that have been debunked by public health experts. In October, Google-owned YouTube made a similar promise. The decision expands Facebook’s current rules relating to falsehoods and conspiracy theories related to the coronavirus pandemic.

Facebook states that it takes down any misinformation that poses a risk of “imminent” harm, and labels and reduces other false claims that fail to reach that threshold. In a blog post, Facebook stated that the global policy change came in response to recent news that coronavirus vaccines would begin rolling out worldwide beginning soon.

Facebook has received criticism in the past for their fact-checking abilities, and their arbitrary decisions regarding the use of their censorship powers.   There will undoubtedly be more controversy on the platform regarding this decision as well.